About
40,000
worshippers are expected to attend some 200 prayer sessions
organized
for people who do not pray regularly; air traffic to and
from Israel
halted over holiday, border crossings to Jordan and Gaza
closed
down.

Silence fell
over
Israel at around 5 P.M. on Friday, as the Yom Kippur fast
began. Air
traffic to and from Israel halted from 1 P.M. on Friday and
is not
scheduled to begin again until 9:30 P.M. on Saturday, while
the border
crossings to Jordan and Gaza have been closed down.

The weather
forecast bodes well for fasters, with comfortable
temperatures.
Saturday will be slightly warmer than Friday but not more
humid, so
the heat stress will not rise - good news for fasters.

Public
opinion
surveys over the past few years show most Jews in Israel
observe Yom
Kippur. A survey conducted by the Central Bureau of
Statistics in 2009
found 26 percent of Israeli Jews who describe themselves as
"secular" or "not religious" fast on Yom Kippur
and 24 percent of them have attended prayers at a synagogue.
A number of organizations will be holding mass prayers,
intended for
people who do not frequent synagogues on a regular basis, as
part of a
custom developed in the past years.
The Tzohar Rabbis' organization is expecting about 40,000
worshippers
to attend some 200 prayer sessions the group is organizing
together
with the Association of Community Centers for people who do
not pray
regularly.
The organization will also hold gatherings of religious and
secular
people in Petah Tikva, Bat Yam, Zichron Yaakov, Ra'anana and
Haifa.
The Conservative and Reform communities will hold mass
prayer
sessions, open to the public at large, throughout the
country.
United Hatzalah of Israel, an independent non-profit fully
volunteer
Emergency Medical Services (EMS ) Organization, has asked
synagogue
managers to make sure a telephone is handy in case of
emergency and
that a rescue personnel member is close by or among the
worshippers.